The description, documentation and revival of Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay

Gamilaraay and Yuwaalaraay are Australian Indigenous languages which had almost totally fallen out of use, apart from a few words, and which are now being revived. The paper details the records and analyses of the languages and the current efforts to revive them. The most important sources of information include publications from 1860 onwards, and a number of unpublished materials. There are important sources from the 19th century, more detailed information from the first half of the 20th, while the period from 1950 to 1980 saw the most detailed information and analysis, benefiting from the greatly increased understanding of Australian Indigenous languages and the advent of tape recorders. From 1980 on work on the languages has consisted of revisiting the older sources to refine and expand the description of the languages, and more recently also lexical development, so they can be used to talk about new realities.

Publication history
Table of contents

This paper considers the recording, description and trajectory of Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay (henceforth GY), languages of the northern inland of New South Wales and adjacent Queensland, in the context of the determination of GY people to revive usage of their languages. This revival has been part of part of a rise in similar efforts, both globally and in Australia, particularly since the 1990s. The main known records and descriptions of GY from around the 1840s up to the 1970s are described. The earlier materials up to 1950 ’ are quite limited, consisting of perhaps 100 to 150 pages in total. On the other hand, there are several hundred pages from the 1950s and some 50 hours of tapes from the 1970s. A review of more recent work on the languages follows. Williams’ (1980) 200 page Grammar of Yuwaalaraay was a substantial advance on previous analyses. Gamilaraay publications include Austin (1992, 1993a, 1993b) and Austin and Nathan (1996). Giacon (2001) focuses on Yuwaalaraay, while Giacon (2017) relates to both languages. Austin (2008) discusses the earlier Gamilaraay records and gives information about Gamilaraay people with knowledge of the language in the 1970s and 1980s. Finally, recent substantially increased research into and use of the languages is described.

Funding

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with Australian National University.

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Résumé

Le gamilaraay et le Yuwaalaraay sont deux langues autochtones d’Australie qui, mis à part quelques mots, étaient tombées en désuétude, mais sont maintenant revitalisées. L’article examine en détail les matériaux archivés et les analyses relatifs à ces deux langues, ainsi que les efforts consacrés actuellement à leur revitalisation. Les sources d’information les plus importantes sont constituées de publications parues à partir des années 1860 et de matériaux non encore publiés. D’importantes sources datent du 19ème siècle et des informations plus détaillées sont fournies durant la première moitié du 20ème, mais la période de 1950 à 1980 est celle qui nous procure les enseignements et les analyses les plus précis, grâce à une compréhension fortement accrue des langues autochtones d’Australie et à l’apparition du magnétophone. Depuis 1980, le travail accompli a consisté à revisiter les sources plus anciennes afin d’affiner et d’augmenter la description de ces deux langues. On a œuvré aussi à leur enrichissement lexical en vue de leur permettre de parler de réalités nouvelles.

Zusammenfassung

Gamilaraay und Yuwaalaraay sind zwei australische indigene Sprachen, die, von wenigen Wörtern abgesehen, so gut wie nicht mehr gebraucht wurden und neuerdings revitalisiert werden. Der Beitrag beschreibt die Aufzeichnungen und Analysen der beiden Sprachen sowie die aktuellen Bemühungen zu deren Revitalisierung. Die wichtigsten Quellen wurden seit 1860 veröffentlicht, aus dieser Zeit gibt es daneben aber auch bisher unveröffentlichte Materialien. Bedeutende Quellen und ausführlichere Informationen stammen aus dem 19. Jahrhundert und der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Von 1950 bis 1980 wurden die detailliertesten Datensammlungen und Analysen erstellt, wobei man vom stark gewachsenen Verständnis der australischen indigenen Sprachen sowie vom Einsatz von Tonbandgeräten profitieren konnte. Seit 1980 hat man angefangen, ältere Quellen erneut zu untersuchen, um die Beschreibung der Sprachen zu verfeinern und zu erweitern, und in jüngerer Zeit hat man sich darüber hinaus mit lexikalischen Fragen beschäftigt, damit die Sprachen zur Erfassung neuer Realitäten verwendet werden können.

Address for correspondence

John Giacon

Australian National University

School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics

Canberra ACT 2600

Australia

[email protected] [email protected]
 
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